September 25, 2012

KOLKATA: LIFE virtually
came to a standstill in West Bengal on September 20 in the 12-hour
general strike called by the Left Front in the state. Rail and road
communication was disrupted, business establishments were mostly closed. In the
government offices, there was very thin attendance despite threat from the
state government.

Suburban train services
were hit with opposition activists squatting on the railway tracks in various
stations under Eastern and South Eastern Railways.

Streets in Kolkata wore
a deserted look, as people generally preferred to stay indoors. Private bus
services and taxis were almost non-existent, though a few government-run buses
were seen on the roads. The Kolkata Metro Railway services were normal, but a
spokesperson said there were very few commuters.

There is perceptible
response to the call particularly among the small traders and shops. Shops and
market places remained closed in most of the areas of the state.

The strike was near
total in industrial areas. Factories and manufacturing units remained non
functional.

The strike exposed the
duplicity of Trinamool Congress. While they vociferously opposed the diesel
price hike and the opening up of retail for FDI and decided to come out of the
UPA on these issues, the state government and the ruling party came all out
against the strike in the state. The chief minister herself issued threats to
employees, workers and transporters. TMC activists attacked strike supporters
in many places. They tried to forcibly open shops and attack on the road
blockades. The people of West Bengal however rejected the
terrorisation and strongly registered their protest against the policies of the
centre.

Hundreads of processions
were organised by the Left parties throughout the state. Led by its chairman
Biman Basu and leader of opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra, the Left Front took
out a large procession from central Kolkata's Moulali to Mallickbazar.

"People have
supported this strike spontaneously to protect their own future. If the
government does not roll back its decisions, there will be a bigger movement in
the coming days," Basu said.

KOLKATA: THE two-day
extended meeting of CPI(M) West Bengal state committee, which took
place during September 15-16, 2012 in Kolkata, called for more organised
movement on the burning issues of the people. After extensive discussion, the
meeting noted that there are discernible signs of peoples’ discontent against
the state government which has to be translated into concrete movement. The
extended meeting reviewed the political situation in the state and the
condition of Party organisation at different levels.

CPI(M) general secretary
Prakash Karat in his inaugural speech spoke against the anti-people policies of
the central government and said that the latest neo-liberal offensive launched
by Manmohan Singh government will only add to the sorrow of the working people.
The hike in the price of diesel will have cascading impact on prices of all
commodities and will further hit the common people. The worst hit would be the
farmers who are already reeling under the impact of rising costs of production.
He added that FDI in retail sector will have a direct adverse impact on the
employment of a huge chunk of the population who are engaged in small and
unorganised retail trade. He also criticised the UPA government for its faulty
natural resource allocation policy where precious natural resources were being
allocated at throw away prices.

Karat also warned about
the worsening communal situation in the country and the role of different
communal and fundamentalist forces, particularly after the events
in Assam. He emphasised that the independent activities of the
Party must be strengthened so as to build Left unity and move towards a Left
and democratic alternative. To achieve this, the fight against liberalisation
must get priority in the coming days, he underlined.

CPI(M) state secretary
Biman Basu, moving the agenda for the meeting, outlined the attack on democracy
and democratic institutions, the mounting burdens on the people and ever
increasing crimes against women. The movement, through mobilising the people,
has to be broadened in this perspective. That calls for strengthening the Party
organisation, uplifting the political and ideological level of the
Party, more active role of Party members and improvement of
functioning of Party committees. Basu emphasised the need for intensive work
among the toiling people and particularly among the urban and rural poor. He
has also stressed upon the need to mobilise younger sections and women.

A total of 33 comrades
from different districts and mass fronts deliberated on the report. While
summing up on the second day, Biman Basu said that only mass struggles can
change the situation. What is needed is a patient effort of the Party among the
masses.

One of the major content
of discussion was the panchayat elections due to be held in the coming months.
Biman Basu urged to treat this election as a mass struggle and move forward
with courage and determination, even in the face of attacks from TMC and other
forces. Decentralisation and exercise of peoples’ rights have come under severe
attack. This has to be exposed among people through intensive campaign. The
meeting passed a resolution protesting these attacks and decided to fight the
elections facing all odds. Though there is an apprehension that TMC will try to
prevent opposition from contesting in many areas and will force bloodshed, the
CPI(M) has decided to combat these attacks and an all out preparation to
mobilise people would start immediately. Polit Bureau member Suryakanta Misra
explained the situation in the rural areas and outlined the main tasks in this
very important political battle.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,
addressing the meeting, said there are perceptible positive changes in the
state. We could see the positive impact of Party’s efforts in many areas.
However, the balance of forces are still tilted towards the anti-Left forces.
The people who left us have not returned entirely. A degree of alienation is
still there. Our priority is to win over those sections of the people. We have
to concentrate among the toiling people and the poorer sections. The impact of
centre’s fresh reform initiatives and misrule of TMC government in the state
would bring a large scope of building movements. But to respond to the
situation we need more developed and cleaner Party organisation.

The extended meeting decided
the following tasks before the Party: to build up powerful movement against
neo-liberal attacks on people; take up the issue of food security
and mobilise poor people; take up issues of demands and social security of the
unorganised sections of workers at local level; build up movement
against deteriorating public services; mobilise people against anarchy in
educational institutions; mobilise democratic opinion against deterioration in
law and order situation and particularly against growing attacks on women;
massive campaign in villages against attack on panchayats.

The meeting also called
for a widespread mass movement against the latest anti-people measures of hike
in price of diesel, the cut back of subsidy on cooking gas, ushering in 51 per
cent FDI in the retail sector and disinvestment of profit making PSUs. It
called upon to make the general strike in West Bengal on September
20, called by Left Front a success.

The meeting also adopted
a resolution extending support to nationwide strike on February 20th and 21st,
2013, called by central trade unions.

It has been decided that
a mass collection will be organised on September 23 to collect money for the
distressed and homeless people of Assam.

Apart from Party’s
general secretary, Polit Bureau members Sitaram Yechury and S Ramachandran
Pillai also attended the meeting. Polit Bureau member Nirupam Sen presided
over the two day session.

September 23, 2012

Whether it was the aggressive art mart or the gold mart, going
by the enthusiastic shoppers, nobody could believe Didi had dropped a bombshell

I happened to be in Kolkata when
Mamata Banerjee made her dramatic announcement to pull the plug on the UPA.
Nobody was surprised. There was a bus strike in the city and people were
rejoicing. It meant there would be far less traffic on those clogged streets,
less pollution in the atmosphere and more time to focus on the dengue outbreak
that is obsessing Kolkatans.

Every time there is even a hint of a
mosquito buzzing within a five-foot radius, locals duck for cover or start
flapping the air frantically with anything handy — even a sturdy handbag.

Didi’s latest stunt doesn’t cause a
single ripple. “It was expected,” says a corporate honcho tiredly. Apparently,
anything and everything is “expected” from the mercurial Didi. And no, people
don’t want her to leave her hard-won gaddi. Not yet. “The commies are waiting
to get back into the saddle… but that’s not happening,” announces an
industrialist as we nibble on exquisite salads. Life appears to be looking up
for those who have embraced Didi’s extraordinarily eccentric and imperious
style of governance.

There is a great deal of hope invested in her ability to
somehow get things moving in that sluggish state. While people wait for the
miracle, those close to her are reaping the myriad benefits of being Didi
loyalists. Their projects are getting cleared phataphat, and money — a great
deal of it — is being made. In such an upbeat scenario, it is foolish to argue
with the converts. Didi is their saviour. She has rescued them from the maws and
jaws of the previous regime and granted a carte blanche to go forth and mint
money — no questions asked. In the process, her party hasn’t done too badly
either. There’s something to be said about friends with benefits in these
difficult times.

Like Didi’s faithful followers who
argue (rather unconvincingly) against policies Didi refuses to endorse, there
are the non-believers, albeit in a conspicuous minority, who articulate their
misgivings over watered-down Scotch, while reeling off glories that once were
Bengal. They are least bothered about the neighbourhood kiranawalla’s future
and what will happen to his shop once the biggies enter the market. Wal-Mart
politics is for those who live in Delhi. Diesel prices affect interstate truck
drivers, not them. Didi’s got it all wrong, they sniff dismissively, as the old
bearer in their favourite club, pads around getting refills. Similarly, the
young, rich and restless are worried about Kolkata’s non-existent nightlife,
given the early curfew and the absence of lively hangout places. One of them
was earnestly urging a high-ranking official to “reconsider” the spoilsport
policy since shutting bars at 11 pm was such a downer… a barbaric ruling, he
called it, without a hint of irony. A disconnect this deep is hard to bridge.

It is happening all over India. And
those who refuse to address the growing divide are going to pay for their
resistance eventually. Most people are living in a fatalistic zone, worried
about day-to-day adjustments and compromises. They are totally disengaged from
the bigger political picture that, in fact, does impact their lives on every
conceivable level. I watched the images of Vishwakarma in Kolkata and asked
around how the preparations for the annual Durga Puja celebrations were
progressing. Was there a sense of panic at rising prices… did the escalated
cost of diesel dampen their enthusiasm? Was their confidence in Didi shaken?
What about the prospect of a mid-term poll disturbing the tempo of their lives?
Were any of these issues of any significance? Bilkul nahi! The Vardan Market
was full of shoppers making early purchases from small boutiques that
specialise in selling designer knock-offs. Speaking to a few women haggling
over an Anamika Khanna fake, they stared at me like I was crazy. Rollback or no
rollback, they were going all out to enjoy a great pujo, minus any cutbacks.
Whether it was the aggressive art mart or the gold mart, going by the
enthusiastic shoppers crowding bazaars, nobody could possibly have believed
Didi had just dropped a bombshell.

How things unfold after the flop
Bharat Bandh will be interesting to monitor. The key word being flung around is
“consultation”. Assorted netas are going purple in the face about not being
consulted by the Congress Party before taking such a momentous decision. But
hello! Since when did the Congress ever consult anyone…. Allies included?
Countless ad hoc decisions have been imposed on the nation in the past… been
weakly debated and eventually junked. Most times, the aam janta has seen
through the charade, shrugged and gone on with life.

This time too, the pantomime will be
ignored till a staged “resolution” is offered and instantly accepted by the
Opposition and allies. The Prime Minister, emboldened by the positive market
sentiments to last week’s googly, will once again disappear behind the purdah
and wait for the Didis and Dadas to calm down — which they will. Our political
masters have read us well. They know all it takes to buy time and get on with
business as usual is to make a big noise and threaten to withdraw support. The
natives are satisfied that at least someone is doing something. It’s hogwash,
of course. But everybody goes to bed feeling happy. Meaningless threats and
protests have a way of dulling our senses and making us believe we actually
count.

So, has a new era of Didi-giri and
Dada-giri dawned? Will the latest flexing of political muscle make even the
smallest dent in the status quo? Or will we — stupidly and passively — stay mum
even after the Rs 12,500 crore Teddy Bear’s Picnic erroneously referred to as
Bharat Bandh? As always, this expensive joke is on us.

KOLKATA: Don't be surprised
if diesel gets dearer again in October without any hike being announced by the
Centre and all other parameters — international price of crude oil,
rupee-dollar exchange rate or tax rates — remaining unchanged. Bengal and some
other states are enjoying an extra benefit in the form of a 20% surcharge on
sales tax that adds up to the Rs 50.61 price tag of diesel here.

Bengal earns Rs 1.62 per litre of diesel as
this irrecoverable surcharge, say finance departmentsources. This component alone
fetches the state government a monthly revenue of Rs 45 crore.

It's called an "irrecoverable"
surcharge because the state does not pass it on to oil companies. All these
years, the Centre used to pay this amount to oil companies because they
couldn't recover it from the states. On July 26, 2012, the Centre refused to
carry the burden any longer and allowed oil firms to recover a portion of it by
increasing prices. The recovery was capped at Rs 1.08 a litre for diesel. Now
that diesel prices have been increased by Rs 5, this component adds up to Rs
1.62 a litre in Bengal but because of the cap, oil companies can recover only
Rs 1.08. The remaining 54 paise goes to the Bengal government's coffers.
However, this 54 paise may well be passed on to you as the Centre proposes to
review the under-recovery every quarter.

Irrecoverable surcharge/lt charged by state
is 1.62 Earnings from irrecoverable surcharge per month is 45 cr Surcharge not
passed on to oil cos. Till July 2012, Centre compensated the oil companies From
Aug 2012, Centre says it won't share the burden, asks oil firms to recover a
portion of this component by increasing prices The cap for recovery fi xed at
1.08/lt for diesel 5/lt hike in diesel price takes surcharge to 1.62/lt, but
oil cos can recover only 1.08 Remaining 54p may be passed on to consumers from
Oct as Centre proposes to review under-recovery every quarter .

Ministers fume at tax-cut advice

This irrecoverable surcharge component
explains why fuel prices in Bengal are higher than some other states. Taking
the Rs 5 hike into account , the Mamata government earns an additional Rs
285.60 crore a year as sales tax, cess and irrecoverable surcharge taken
together . TheManmohan Singh government is urging state governments to give up
a part of this gain to lessen the burden on the consumer. An advertisement
issued by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas on Monday says: "The
recent increase in diesel price will yield an additional tax revenue of Rs
8,200 crore per annum to the states. The states can, at least, forego this
additional revenue to provide additional comfort to the common man."

The suggestion has drawn flak from Mamata
Banerjee's cabinet colleagues . "The state government has meagre resource
avenues, unlike the Centre. Now if the Centre starts dictating ways to the
state government then there is no point calling this a democratic set-up
," said panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee. Transport minister Madan
Mitra reacted more aggressively: "Who are they (Centre) to suggest what
state governments should do? They should have issued a notification instead of
giving a suggestion through advertisement . Our government swears by ma mati
manush, and our leader and chief minister will take the call on this."

Though the Opposition in Bengal is at
loggerheads with the Manmohan Singh government as well, Left Front chairman
Biman Bose came out with a similar suggestion for the Mamata Banerjee
administration . Bose pointed out that the Left Front government had slashed
sales tax on diesel price in 2008-09 to give relief to the common man and urged
Mamata to do the same "if she was sincere to the cause of the masses"
.

Reacting
to the allegation of Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal
and TMC supremo that it was Standing Committee of civil aviation
headed by Sitaram Yechury MP and CPI(M) polit bureau
member recommended 51 percent FDI in the civil aviation Industry,
Yechury said that allegation was totally false, untrue and falsehood.

Yechury
said that I am the chairman of the Standing committee civil aviation and
transport, this issue never came in front of us. This sort of decision is taken
by the executive. Mamta Banejee was union minister since the time of Narshima Rao
government and also under NDA and UPA 2 and she must know about this that such
decision is taken by the executive.

Yechury
said, I also take this opportunity to point that CPI (M) had been a consistent
fighter against the FDI and privatization in the civil aviation, there are many
documents and records to prove it. It is only our party which had moved a
statutory resolution in the parliament which is rarely moved on an issue in
this sector. I as chairman of the committee can sight various reports which
have been adopted unanimously recommending the government not to take this
path.

We
really do not know why she does not know after remaining so many years in
council of ministers this fact that these decision are taken by the executive.
It shows her lack of knowledge about the function of the government.

I draw your urgent attention to the
statement of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas published as advertisement
in the leading National Dailies today on 17th September 2012 under the heading “Was
the increase in price of diesel & capping of Domestic LPG avoidable? No,
for the following reasons:” (copy enclosed)

I totally disagree with the “reasons”
detailed therein but that is not the purpose of drawing your attention here.

The point is that the said statement
published by the Ministry suffers from misrepresentation of facts when it
referred to the recommendation of the ‘all party Standing Committee of
Parliament on Petroleum & Natural Gas on ‘capping of domestic LPG’.

Number one, the recommendation of the
Standing Committee on Petroleum & Natural Gas (8th Report on Demands for
Grants-2011-12) on this particular issue was not at all unanimous as has been
claimed in Ministry’s advertised statement. I as a member of the Standing
Committee, had submitted my ‘note of dissent’ on the recommendation on this
particular issue which was published along with the Report and tabled in Parliament
on 03-08-2011.

Number two, the decision of the Govt
capping the domestic LPG cylinders’ availability to 6 cylinders annually for
all households is at wide variance with what the Standing Committee actually
recommended on that issue, contrary to what has been stated in Ministry’s
advertised statement. The Standing Committee recommended, though not
unanimously, the restriction on domestic LPG availability at subsidized rate
for “people having an income of more than Rs Six Lakh per annum including those
holding constitutional posts, public representatives like MPs, MLAs/MLCs.”

Let me again reiterate, I am not
arguing here on the merit of what the Ministry sought to convey to people
through this advertised statement. I like to state here only that such official
statement of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, that too published as
advertisement in all the national dailies should not indulge in
misrepresentation of facts as pointed out in the preceding paragraphs.

I would request you to please look into
the matter and do the needful so that corrective action is taken at the
earliest to put the facts straight and without distortion or dilution.

KOLKATA: CPI(M) general
secretary Prakash Karat on Friday termed Trinamool Congress claims of not being
consulted on the diesel and LPG price rise as "match-fixing".
"Three days back the Cabinet Committee of Political Affairs (CCPA) had
said it was to figure on its agenda. Trinamool is part of the committee. They
will skip not attend the cabinet meeting and then say take a plea that they
were not told," Karat said.

"The Trinamool Congress
is an ally of the UPA. And no such decision can be taken without taking the
allies in confidence. Congress doesn't have a majority," Karat said while
speaking at a party function to commemorate the birth centenary celebrations of
CPI(M)'s founder general-secretary P Sitaramaiah at Pramode Dasgupta Bhawan.

Earlier, speaking to the
reporters at the NSCBI airport, Karat said: "The CPI(M) will hold discussions
with other parties before launching a stir pressing for a rollback. Both the
decisions of hiking the diesel price and restricting the supply of subsidized
cooking to six cylinders per household in a year will hit the common man hard.
CPI(M) has already criticised the decision of the Centre. We are going to discuss
with other parties as to how to organise a common movement to demand the
rollback of the decision."

Karat's statement also found
resonance in the CPI(M)'s three-day extended state committee meeting, which began
on Friday. In a statement, CPI(M) not only stopped at saying that Trinamool can't
shun from its responsibility, it also said till the time the Centre makes a
rollback, the state can very well withdraw the state component embedded in the
prices. "The state also stands to benefit from the price increase,"
it said. Left Front chairman Biman Bose has already announced a series of
agitation programmes in the state from Saturday.

State Congress president
Pradip Bhattacharya also pointed why Union railway minister Mukul Roy chose to
remain absent from the crucial cabinet meetings. "We all know it is a
tough decision but sometimes tough decisions need to be taken. Trinamool, being
our ally at the Centre, needs to be more sensible rather than trying to score
political points " Bhattacharjee added. "

If they plan to launch
agitations against the central government, then we can also launch stir against
the wrongdoings and policies of the state government," Bhattacharjee
added. Asked about the TMC's charges of not being informed about the decision,
he said: "This is rubbish. They have a cabinet minister (Mukul Roy). All
the important decisions are taken in the cabinet. Why does he always remain
absent from the cabinet meeting?"

"Does he need a special
invitation to be present at the cabinet meeting? Most of the times when there
is a cabinet meeting, he stays in Kolkata and then Trinamool will say they were
not informed. What is this?" he said.

BJP workers, on Friday
morning, burned the effigy of PM Manmohan Singh and blocked roads in several
parts of the state demanding rollback of diesel price hike and restoration of
full subsidy on LPG cylinders.

Communist
Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat on Friday described as
“peculiar” the pattern of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pleading
ignorance every time a fuel hike was announced and saying she was opposed to
the move even as her party, a constituent of the ruling UPA, failed to attend
the meetings where the crucial decisions were taken.

“There
is some sort of match fixing in this. They [the Trinamool Congress] say, ‘you
[the Congress] go ahead [with the imposition of the hike], we will say we did
not know anything about this.’ This is the approach the Trinamool-led State
government has adopted,” Mr. Karat said, speaking at a function in the city to
mark the birth centenary of P. Sunderayya, first CPI(M) general secretary.

“They
[the Trinamool] say we were not told; we were not consulted; we are opposed to
it. But there was a meeting of the Cabinet Committee for Political Affairs and
on the agenda were increase in diesel prices and limiting the subsidy for LPG
cylinders. The Trinamool representative in the Cabinet [Railway Minister Mukul
Roy], who is a member of the CCPA, did not attend that meeting.”

Mr.
Karat said the Trinamool pleaded ignorance of the proposed hike even after the
agenda of the meeting had been published in the media.

“If
they were opposed to it, the Minister should have gone to the CCPA. They should
have blocked it in the Cabinet.” The Congress, he said, did not have a majority
and could not proceed with a decision if any of the allies opposed it.

New Delhi:Accusing the Trinamool
Congress of "absolute authoritarianism", the CPI(M) on Thursday
charged the Mamata Banerjee government with superseding elected local bodies in
West Bengal and giving all their financial powers to district magistrates,
thereby stalling development work.

"The state government has issued orders
ceasing the powers of the zilla parishads of North 24 Parganas and Nadia
districts. Under the orders, the DMs will now operate all powers of the
parishads and sanction schemes," senior party leader Sitaram Yechury told
reporters here.

"This is absolute authoritarianism and
autocratic manner in which the state government is functioning," he said.

A CPI(M) delegation of zilla parishad
representatives, led by Yechury and former MP Amitabha Nandi, took up the issue
with Panchayati Raj Minister Kishore Chandra Deo and Rural Development Minister
Jairam Ramesh at separate meetings.

Nandi said though panchayat was a state subject
and his party was opposed to any move by the Centre to interfere in state
matters, "in this particular case, I believe it has become necessary to
have an exception as a very special case".

He said all public works in Nadia and North 24
Parganas "have come to a standstill since the state government order
became operative".

The delegation sought the intervention of the
two Union ministers to take appropriate action to end the deadlock. (PTI)

Mamata is often heard of shouting
"Don't let them start riots in Bengal!." Who are
"they"? Where is riot happening in Bengal? On the
contrary, an educated middle-class led by a secular Leftist leadership nurtured
a socio-economic culture in Bengal which was not traditionally characterised by
caste and minority politics. But in the post-Left Front times, we are clearly
seeing how casteist politics is making its way in the Bengali society. We have
seen how the Matua sect and Muslims are being
mobilised by the Mamata Banerjee, the latter in a more fragmented way.

Mamata encouraging communal forces

The BJP, which has never succeeded in
fomenting a communal way of politics in the state, has been feeling encouraged
only because Mamata, today, is intending to appease the minorities. We all know
soft communalism in the name of secularism will eventually lead to the growth
of a hard, reactionary communalism. The Congress's ploy and the BJP's rise as a
counter-force have left such examples in the past. The recent protest over the
construction of Aligarh Muslim
University campus in Murshidabad is a classic case.

The BJP wouldn't have to sweat it out
if Mamata continues with her appeasement policy for another three-and-half
years and beyond (for I believe that she will come back to power in 2016 even
if with a reduced majority). Mamata, instead of focusing on overall uplift of
the minorities, is actually playing a dangerous game of fragmenting the
minorities by extending facilities to selected sections.

What will an allowance for the Imam do
for the uplift of an average educated middle-class Muslim person? He, or she,
just like any educated middle-class Hindu, will want industrialisation in the
state for generation of economic opportunities. There is no point in slamming
the BJP for trying out 'communal politics'. It is being given such an
opportunity.

Bureaucrats see it better and clearly

If a police officer, owing to the fact
that he has seen it all from close ranks, decides to write on issues he
strongly feels about, then who are these chamchas to oppose?
Mamata can not accuse Islam as CPI(M)'s man either for he was known for his
clashes with it also. People like Ghosh and Islam have dared to expose the
so-called tamasha that is going on in Bengal today in the name
of pro-people action and it is natural that the state machinery would be
unleashed against them in a desperate bid to keep its artificial support base
intact.

Islam's daring act could also hint at
the growing dissent in the Bengal police against the maladministration of
Mamata. The CM, who was once at the receiving end of the fury unleashed by the
police during the days of the Left rule, has transformed it into a stooge of
her own. She has defended criminals belonging to own party while discouraged
honest officers from properly carrying out their job (she once allegedly got a
few of her followers freed from police lock-up after they were arrested for
threatening the police and reprimanded officers), the normal consequence of
what has been the deteriorating law and order situation.

The culture that is being nurtured
by Mamata Banerjee in Bengal is a
shocking one. Even as people regard her government's action as anti-democratic,
it is more threatening somewhere deep down. But who can arrest the slide when
the protector itself turns draconian?

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s absolute
intolerance of criticism resurfaces with the arrest of a farmer.

Mamata Banerjee. Her apparent paranoia
has made her overdependent on the police.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has
made it very clear that she will not tolerate dissent, criticism and jokes
against her government and that police action will be initiated against her
critics. First came the arrest of a professor who forwarded an innocuous
cartoon of her by e-mail; then came the branding of a college student who asked
her an uncomfortable question on a private television channel’s chat show as a
Maoist; and now an indigent farmer has been detained for voicing his grievances
to the Chief Minister at a public meeting.

All Shiladitya Chowdhury, a farmer from Binpur,
did was to point out to Mamata Banerjee at a rally at Belpahari in Pashchim
Medinipur district that the rise in fertilizer prices was ruining farmers. But
that was enough for the angry Chief Minister to label him a “Maoist” and have
him arrested under non-bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

On August 8, like thousands of others in the
region, Shiladitya had gone to attend Mamata Banerjee’s rally at Belpahari. The
area was until recently a known Maoist belt, and so the Chief Minister’s rally
was taking place amid heavy security. Shiladitya, who was sitting in the front
row beyond the security cordon, got up in between and loudly said that farmers
were dying and were not getting proper prices for their produce, that
fertilizer prices were increasing, and that the government was not doing enough
to redress farmers’ grievances.

Mamata Banerjee reacted aggressively, pointing
him out in the crowd and ordering the police to catch him. As he was being led
away, she referred to him as a Maoist who had sneaked into the rally ground to
create disturbance. Upon questioning Shiladitya, the police found that he had
no links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and allowed him to
return home. But later, the Jhargram Superintendent of Police, Bharati Ghosh,
reportedly claimed that Shiladitya had “escaped” before the interrogation was completed
– a feat that is difficult if not impossible given the heavy security at the
venue.

After his “escape”, Shiladitya went straight
home to Nayagram, but the police waited two whole days before picking him up
again on the night of August 10. This time he was arrested under Sections 332
(voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty, a non-bailable
offence), 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter public servant from
discharge of his duty, non-bailable), 447 (criminal trespass, bailable) and 506
(criminal intimidation, bailable). The following morning he was produced before
a district court and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

The arrest raised a storm of protest from a
cross section of the media and civil society. Political parties, both allies of
the Trinamool Congress and those in the opposition, spoke out in one voice
against the arrest. Communist Party of India (Marxist) Member of Parliament
Nilotpal Basu said the arrest was tantamount to “autocracy” while West Bengal
Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Om Prakash Mishra called it a
“bizarre case of heightened intolerance”.

Ambikesh Mahapatra, the Jadavpur
University professor who was arrested in the cartoon case. The West Bengal
Human Rights Commission has recommended that the State government compensate
him.

The strongest criticism came from an unexpected
source – Chairman of the Press Council of India and former Supreme Court judge
Markandey Katju, who had, months earlier, showered praise on Mamata Banerjee
for her integrity and uprightness. “Her action is most undemocratic, to say the
least. I had earlier given a statement in favour of Mamata Banerjee…. But now I
have changed my opinion and believe she is totally undeserving to be a
political leader in a democratic country like India…,” he reportedly said. He
also warned officials carrying out her orders that they could face a situation
similar to those sentenced in the Nuremberg trials.

Even in her days in the opposition when she was
heading the violent agitation in Singur that led to the departure of Tata
Motors’ small car project from the State, she reacted angrily to any question
she perceived to be critical of her movement. The term “Tata’s agent” was
attributed to anyone asking her an uncomfortable question. But after assuming
charge as the Chief Minister of West Bengal in 2011, her threshold for
tolerance of any perceived criticism has been diminishing at an alarming rate.

Apart from Ambikesh Mahapatra, a Jadavpur
University professor of chemistry, Subrata Sengupta, septuagenarian retired
engineer, was arrested for forwarding by e-mail a month-old cartoon relating to
Mamata Banerjee’s insistence on removing the then Union Railway Minister,
Dinesh Trivedi, from the Cabinet and replacing him with present Railway
Minister, Mukul Roy. Her branding of young students who asked her uncomfortable
questions on a television chat show as “Maoists” came a month later. As she
stormed off the set, she asked the police to take photographs of those who had
posed difficult questions to her.

There are many who feel that Mamata Banerjee
appears to be constantly looking over her shoulder for unseen enemies. This
apparent paranoia, say others, perhaps explains her overdependence on the
police. “Apart from the intolerance and undue haste that characterises the
present government so far, there appears to be a more-than-necessary dependence
on the police. This may be harmful in the long run for any democratic polity,”
a senior government official told Frontline. Despite all the criticism, the
Mamata Banerjee government has remained unapologetic. On each occasion she and
her party leaders defiantly justify their stance, no matter how illogical their
justifications may appear.

In the cartoon case, the government and the
party’s interpretations of the innocuous mail ranged from being “lewd and
obscene” to indicating a sinister plot to kill Mamata Banerjee. The farmer’s
voicing of his grievances was interpreted as a dangerous bid to breach security
and cause mayhem. Mukul Roy, who was present at that meeting, claimed that
Shiladitya was drunk and pushed the police personnel and women around him,
although video recordings of the incident show no evidence of such action.
Shiladitya, who hails from a family of policemen, had been selected for a
training programme at the Central Reserve Police Force camp at Binpur.

As with the previous incidents, this time, too,
the Trinamool leaders’ excuses serve only to diminish the credibility of the
ruling party. “It is not what he said but how he said it that was offensive,” a
Trinamool Congress source told Frontline.

HRC Report

In a development that has caused much
embarrassment to the State government, the West Bengal Human Rights
Commission’s report on the cartoon incident has recommended that the State
government compensate both Mahapatra and Sengupta by paying them Rs.50,000 each
for the manner in which they were arrested and detained and take action against
the policemen responsible for the arrest. The report states: “Citizens who are
expressing or airing a critical opinion about the ruling party cannot be picked
up from their residence by the police at the instance of an agitated mob whose
members are unhappy with the critical views of those two persons. If this is
allowed to continue, then not only the human rights of the dissenters will
perish but free speech, which is the life blood of our democracy, will be
gagged. Constitutional provisions will be reduced to parchment promises and we
will be heading towards a totalitarian regime in complete negation of
democratic values….” The Commission also made it clear that “no one can
attribute even remotely any suggestion which is lewd or indecent and slang” in
respect of the cartoon that was forwarded.

Though it is not binding upon the State
government to follow the recommendations, according to political analysts,
governments normally abide by such suggestions. What remains to be seen is
whether the present report will prompt the Mamata Banerjee government to avoid
such embarrassments in the future.

Reign of intolerance

By SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY

FRONTLINE, Volume 29 - Issue 09 :: May.
05-18, 2012

Mamata Banerjee's eleven months in power in West
Bengal have been marked by actions that undermine democracy.

PEOPLE wonder if
this is the "poriborton", or change, she promised.

IN West Bengal, Didi, or Big Sister, is watching
you. As such, one should be extra careful about what one says in public or in
private and be doubly cautious about forwarding or sharing jokes through e-mail
or on social media.

Ambikesh Mahapatra, a professor of chemistry at
Jadavpur University, learnt this the hard way by spending 16 hours in police
custody. He forwarded an innocuous joke on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,
affectionately known as Didi, though e-mail. Mahapatra's travails have taught
the people of West Bengal a valuable lesson: if they wish to stay out of
trouble, they better laugh at only what Didi and her government say is funny.
It would also serve the people of West Bengal better to read only those
newspapers Didi and her government choose for them; watch only those television
channels that Didi approves of; and, most importantly, believe only what Didi
and her government tell them, for all else are lies and conspiracies.

When Mamata Banerjee promised poriborton (change
in Bengali) in the State and tied up with the Congress and toppled the
34-year-old Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front government in the
Assembly elections in 2011, many people perhaps did not understand what she
fully meant. But in less than a year's time, most of the confusion they may
have had about the kind of poriborton they were promised has certainly cleared.
After all, in just 10 months Mamata Banerjee herself claimed that 90 per cent
of the work she had set out to do had been finished and that she had completed
10 years' work in 10 months.

On top of the many promises and assurances that
she made in the run-up to the Assembly elections was “restoring democracy”.
However, less than a year later, it has turned out to be a change of a
different flavour – one that people are finding a little unpalatable. From
forbidding government-funded libraries to subscribe to major national and
regional newspapers to detaining human rights activists, the State government
has been displaying signs of an attitude not quite compatible with democratic
norms. But it is the arrest of the professor that has brought to the fore the
darkest and most sinister nature of the intimidation of civil society, which
even the most dedicated Trinamool Congress supporters in the urban middle class
have found difficult to approve of.

On April 12, Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested by
the police for forwarding a cartoon strip relating to the Chief Minister's
insistence on removing Trinamool leader and Union Railway Minister Dinesh
Trivedi from the Cabinet and replacing him with Mukul Roy, another Trinamool
Member of Parliament. The joke was a spoof on Satyajit Ray's famous film Sonar
Kella (Golden Fortress) and lifted certain dialogues from the film and applied
them to the recent political developments surrounding the Railway Ministry. The
cartoon was forwarded from the official e-mail id of the housing society where
Mahapatra stays.

Around 12-40 a.m., the police arrested Mahapatra
and Subrata Sengupta, the septuagenarian secretary of the housing society and a
retired engineer of the Public Works Department, on charges of outraging the
modesty of a woman, defamation and hacking (using the Internet to spread
defamatory messages). Before being handed over to the police, Mahapatra was
allegedly beaten up by suspected Trinamool workers who, the professor claimed,
forced him to sign a statement that he was a supporter of the CPI(M). While he
was kept in police custody for 16 hours before being produced in court, four of
his assailants, including a local Trinamool leader, who were later arrested,
were released on bail after two and a half hours.

Speaking to the media after his release,
Mahapatra said, “I do not regret forwarding the mail. It was done in good
humour only.” The real reason for the whole incident, it became clear later,
was rivalry between Mahapatra and a group of Trinamool Congress-backed building
material suppliers who had apparently been trying to seize control of the board
of directors of the housing society.

Even as cries of alarm arose from sections of
Mamata Banerjee's most ardent middle-class supporters at this brazen display of
intolerance, the Chief Minister and her government remained unapologetic.
Mamata Banerjee, who was touring the districts at the time, went into her usual
defensive mode. As has become her wont, she hinted at a conspiracy by the
CPI(M) and sections of the media, her latest bete noire.

“If someone commits some mischief, what will the
police do? Will they not arrest him? And then the CPI(M)'s two news channels
and some of the newspapers will start a slander campaign against us,” she said
at a function in Durgapur. Back in Kolkata, some of her Ministers defended the
arrest, even as academics, intellectuals and ordinary citizens took to the
streets in protest. Many of them had attended rallies and public meetings of
Mamata Banerjee. She was grateful for their support then, today she does not
seem to care for their opinion. “It is only the white-collar urban people who
are protesting,” a senior Trinamool leader told Frontline, insisting that the
e-mail was demeaning though he could not explain how. It appears nobody can
explain, without stretching the bounds of credibility, how the joke can be
construed as offensive. The eminent academic Sukanta Chaudhuri of Jadavpur
University said, “If this could lead to such consequences, then who is safe?
Any normal activity that we carry out might bring retribution, or be a pretext
for retribution, as the actual cause seems to lie in the affairs of his
[Mahapatra's] housing society.”

Leader of the Opposition and CPI(M) Polit Bureau
member Surya Kanta Mishra said that such a measure was “laughable and
childish”. Even the Trinamool's ally, the Congress, condemned the incident.
Pradesh Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya called it an “assault on the
political culture of Bengal”. Intellectuals such as Sunanda Sanyal, once
identified closely with Mamata Banerjee's programme of poriborton, have
expressed dismay and even disgust at the whole incident. “We have perhaps
reached the abyss. Nothing can be worse than this. For some time now anarchy
has taken over the State, but the arrest of the professor for forwarding the
cartoon is perhaps the last nail on the coffin,” he is reported to have said.

Mamata Banerjee has never been one to tolerate
uncomfortable questions or criticism. On her road to Writers' Buildings, the
West Bengal secretariat, her relationship with the media was “roses, roses all
the way” – barring a few short periods of animosity, like when her agitation in
Singur led to the departure of Tata Motors' small car project from the State.
When certain glaring discrepancies between what the State government was saying
and what the press was seeing, as in the case of suicides by farmers, came to
the fore, Mamata Banerjee lapsed into her defensive mode and accused those
newspapers that did not toe the State government's line of conspiring with the
insidious CPI(M).

The government made known its displeasure with
such national and regional newspapers by removing them from the list of
publications subscribed to by the 2,500-odd State libraries. The only English
newspaper on the list of the 13 papers that have been approved by the State
government is The Times of India. Influential and popular regional and national
dailies such as Anandabazaar Patrika, Bartaman, The Hindu, The Telegraph,
Hindustan Times and Indian Express have been omitted from the list. Though the
government maintained that none of the newspapers included in the list was
aligned to any political party, the editors and proprietors of three of them –
Sangbad Pratidin, Akbar E Mashriq and Sanmarg – are Trinamool Congress members
in the Rajya Sabha.

“By this, the State government clearly wanted to
send across a message to all those newspapers that have been critical of it,” a
source in the State administration said. The government, however, claimed that
it was a decision taken to promote smaller local newspapers, an argument that
did little to convince most people.

The decision came under severe criticism from
all quarters. Mahasweta Devi, noted writer and recipient of the Jnanpith Award
and the Ramon Magsaysay Award, said, “There is no way such a decision can be
supported.” Mahasweta Devi supported some of the agitations led by Mamata
Banerjee when the Left Front was in power, including the agitations in Singur
and Nandigram.

Mamata Banerjee is apparently unmoved by all the
criticism. She struck back, saying that there may come a time when she will
have to tell the people what to read as well. “We are not telling people what
to read. But the manner in which personal attacks are being made, a conspiracy
is being staged, we may just have to take the decision of telling people what
to read,” she said in an interview to select television channels. This further
exacerbated the public outcry against the arrest. A new joke, coined by the
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, started doing the rounds in the State –
“Amra harmad shoriye Unmad enechhi” (In the place of armed goons, we have
brought in loonies). No arrests have been made so far.

Even those who voted for her have found it
difficult to come to terms such intolerance. “I voted for Mamata thinking she
would make a difference. However, she has done quite a few things wrong, and we
as citizens have a duty to tell her so. All she is expected to do is to listen.
If she can't do that she has no business heading a democratically elected
government,” the writer and academic Rimi B. Chatterjee told Frontline.

Mamata Banerjee's perceived authoritarian
attitude and her government's apparent refusal to take heed of outside opinion
have affected its relationship with the Pradesh Congress. In the past 11
months, the relationship between the two allies has degenerated to the point of
a near break-up.

In yet another instance of intolerance, and this
one in less than a week after the arrest of Ambikesh Mahapatra, Food and
Supplies Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick stirred a hornet's nest with a “hate”
speech against the CPI(M). In his address to Trinamool Congress workers, he
directed his diatribe not just at CPI(M) activists but also at CPI(M)
supporters. “You should boycott the CPI(M). You must not mingle with them. If a
CPI(M) supporter invites you to a wedding or any other programme, do not go
there. Do not associate with them in any way. Do not sit beside them at social
events to have food; do not even have tea with them at the local tea stall,” he
said. His rationale for suggesting a social boycott was that maintaining
friendly relations with the CPI(M) “would weaken one's resolve to extract
revenge against them”.

Mallick's speech has not only drawn flak from
all political quarters but has shocked civil society. “Various people with
different political views live in close proximity to each other in society.
There is constant exchange of viewpoints and ideas, which is the way it should
be. This is a kind of political communalism, and such an attitude promotes
violent political hatred. He should be more responsible, particularly since he
is a Minister,” Suchetana Chattopadhyay, an assistant professor of history in
Jadavpur University, told Frontline.

TALL CLAIMS

Although Mamata has alienated a section of the
middle class and the urban youth, her mass appeal has remained intact. Huge
crowds assemble at her rallies. In what appears to be a frantic endeavour to
win the applause of the crowds, she lists, at regular intervals, all that she
has accomplished. After 10 months in government, she claimed she had completed
90 per cent of the work she had set out to do. She is the examinee, the
invigilator and the examiner rolled in one.

Many people feel that the government is
concerned more with its image than with real problems. At a time when the
“debt-stressed” West Bengal needed over Rs.23,000 crore for debt servicing
(2011-12) and the need of the hour was nothing less than a severe austerity
drive, Mamata Banerjee announced, among other things, around one lakh new jobs
in the government sector and a grant of Rs.2 lakh each to 700 local clubs.
Though this may draw applause at the rallies, the measures will further burden
the State exchequer. But then she can put pressure on the Congress, her
alliance partner at the Centre, to bail her out.

In less than a month after coming to power, the
State government passed the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011,
raising the hopes of the reluctant land losers for whose cause Mamata Banerjee
fought against the Tata small car project. The farmers had refused to collect
their compensation, putting their faith in her pledge. However, six years since
the Singur agitation started, the farmers have received nothing. Even as the
Calcutta High Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Singur Land
Rehabilitation and Development Act, the Tatas have not given up the legal
battle. Time and again the land-losing farmers have rejoiced only to have their
hopes shattered. Most of them have now begun to doubt whether Mamata Banerjee
will actually be able to return to them the land taken away for the project.
According to reports, some of them have even expressed regret at not having
collected the compensation and allowed Tata Motors to set up its factory.

Repeated inconsistencies in words and actions
have begun to affect Mamata Banerjee's credibility among a section of the
electorate. One of the most glaring examples is the way she has dealt with the
Maoists. Before coming to power, she strenuously campaigned for the withdrawal
of the security forces from Maoist-affected areas and insisted that there were
no Maoists in West Bengal. Yet, after coming to power, she has used the very
same security forces to corner the militants and has directly appealed to them
to lay down arms (thus acknowledging their existence). While it is true that
the Trinamool Congress is not the first political party to take advantage of
the presence of the Maoists and secure a strong base for itself in certain
regions, her volte-face has surprised some of her admirers.

There is a feeling among quite a few that Mamata
Banerjee's government is obsessed with inconsequential issues and glosses over
the important ones. On the one hand, it denies the fact that farmers are
killing themselves under the burden of debt. On the other, it pledges to
“convert Kolkata into London”. Fancy street lights, which consume more
electricity, adorn many parts of Kolkata, but they have not made travelling any
more comfortable. Amid much fanfare, she changed the name of West Bengal to
Pashchimbanga (which means West Bengal in Bengali) – a name already in vogue.

But it is the perception of a direct assault on
certain democratic rights of citizens that has created the biggest furore in
the State. Mamata Banerjee was not the prime mover either in the case of
Mahapatra or in the case of newspaper subscription by State libraries. But, she
did ratify the decisions apparently without thinking of the precedents they
would set.

Remember her words on the day the Assembly
election results were declared in 2011: “Our motto is to restore the democratic
situation. Here [in West Bengal] autocracy is going on. And the Marxist
government is a government for the Marxists, of the Marxists and by the
Marxists. They have politicised the administration. Our motto is to restore the
impartiality of the administration.” And remember that her government detained
the eminent scientist Partha Sarathi Ray for 10 days in prison for allegedly
participating in a demonstration seeking compensation for a group of people
evicted from their homes, and that the incident prompted intellectuals such as
Noam Chomsky and Aruna Roy to write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to secure
his release.